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Loeb in familiar spot on top of WRC leader board in Germany

August 23, 2012

Eight-time Rally Germany winner Sebastian Loeb is the leader after the first day of this year's three-day event. Photo by LAT PHOTO

Reigning champion and eight-time Germany winner Sébastien Loeb was quickest on four of the day's six stages to give himself a 20-second lead over the Ford of Petter Solberg at the Rally Germany round of the World Rally Championship on Friday.

Although Solberg holds down the second spot, it was his Ford teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, who appeared to be the only man capable of beating Loeb.

Latvala lost time with tire choice and setup miscues in the morning, before adopting harder settings for the afternoon and flying, winning two of the three stages.

Latvala, however, dropped 12 seconds on the fifth stage. The Finn rebounded with another stage win on the day's sixth and final test, leaving him nine seconds behind Solberg and half a minute off the lead.

The Works Fords are being closely pursued by Citroën's rising star Thierry Neuville, who has been rapid all day and is within five seconds of Latvala.

While Loeb leads, his Citroën teammate Mikko Hirvonen has struggled. The Finn ended the day a minute behind Loeb in sixth place. Hirvonen was running fifth until the concluding stage, when he lost out to Dani Sordo, who stepped up his pace at the end of the day in the Prodrive Mini.

Ford driver Ott Tanak had been in the top six initially, before errors saw him fall to seventh. His M-Sport teammate Evgeny Novikov crashed out on stage one.

Mads Østberg had brake problems and a lack of testing, and he finished day one in eighth place. Chris Atkinson is ninth on his first outing in Motorsport Italia's Mini, and Sébastien Ogier with Skoda is 10th.

Rally Germany leaders

Results Friday from the Rally Germany, the ninth leg of the World Rally Championship, with driver, country, car, time: